…If some people already criticize FIAT money which is what we have, imagine something, that some call a currency, but that is only a theoretical idea…

…And there are now thousands of the so called “crypto currencies”…

…Has anyone seen a manufacturer, of anything for that matter, announce the price of a new product in Bitcoins, for example?

The concept of moral obligation is much older in History than debt and money..

And where is the concept of moral obligation in Crypto currencies…?

…Nowhere.

I rest my case.

Francisco (Abouaf) de Curiel Marques Pereira

—

(BBG) Barclays Plc has been gauging clients’ interest in the British bank starting a cryptocurrency trading desk, potentially joining Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in pioneering a new business on Wall Street, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Barclays has so far only done a preliminary assessment of demand and feasibility, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The bank said Monday it currently has no concrete plans to start such an operation.

“We constantly monitor developments in the digital currency space and will continue to have a dialog with our clients on their needs and intentions in this market,” spokesman Andrew Smith said in an emailed statement.

A crypto trading desk would require approval from investment bank boss Tim Throsby, and potentially Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley, given the novelty of the asset class, risk and compliance requirements, according to one of the people. No other big European investment bank is known to be building such a desk.

Staley has made building up Barclays’s investment bank the centerpiece of his strategy to revive earnings. In September, Throsby vowed to reignite the unit’s “commercial zeal” and authorized the transfer of billions of dollars of capital to higher-risk trading activities from vanilla corporate lending. Bitcoin — infamous for its wild price swings after rising to a peak of more than $19,000 in December before halving in value within four months — could fit the bill. It traded at $8,110 on Tuesday after a seven-day streak of gains.

Hedge Funds

Demand for such services is plentiful. Hedge funds that deal with bitcoin and other virtual currencies have been eager to find banks to handle transactions — much like prime brokers do with securities — and potentially serve as custodians of digital assets. Some money managers have struggled to expand into crypto, in part because of rules that prevent them from using unregulated exchanges to trade and hold investments.

The number of hedge funds focused on crypto reached 226 in mid-February, according to Autonomous Research, up from 37 at the start of 2017. Many were formed or piled into the market as Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed last year.

For now, a few big Wall Street firms let customers bet on Bitcoin through futures contracts offered by CME Group Inc. and Cboe Global Markets Inc., though such investments can be expensive, undercutting returns. Additionally, some banks have demanded clients set aside collateral equal to 100 percent of the value of their trades.

‘Infectious Disease’

Goldman Sachs is setting up a trading desk to make markets in digital currencies such as Bitcoin, which it hopes to get up and running by late June, if not earlier, people with knowledge of the matter said in December. But to do so, it still has to work out security issues including how to custody assets.

Last week, a team of Barclays analysts led by Joseph Abate laid out a pricing model for Bitcoin that wasn’t exactly bullish, treating it like a disease and predicting it’s probably on the decline.

The model divided the pool of potential investors into three groups: susceptible, infected and immune. The analysts assumed that when prices rise, “infections” spread by word-of-mouth. But at some point, the number of potential hosts would be used up, causing prices to plateau before eventually falling.

“The most recent peak may have been the ultimate top,” they wrote. “The speculative froth phase of crypto currency investment, and perhaps peak prices, may have passed.”

…What strikes me is the number of people that have been blinded by money in this idiocy…

…And they say things like this:

…”The biggest mystery of the 21 st century is in the markets, and it’s the Bitcoin…”

…Money blinds people…

Francisco (Abouaf) de Curiel Marques Pereira

—

(Bloomberg) — The tumble in cryptocurrencies that erased
nearly $500 billion of market value over the past month could
get a lot worse, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s global
head of investment research.
Most digital currencies are unlikely to survive in their
current form, and investors should prepare for coins to lose all
their value as they’re replaced by a small set of future
competitors, Goldman’s Steve Strongin said in a report dated
Feb. 5. While he didn’t posit a timeframe for losses in existing
coins, he said recent price swings indicated a bubble and that
the tendency for different coins to move in lockstep wasn’t
rational.
“The high correlation between the different
cryptocurrencies worries me,” Strongin said. “Because of the
lack of intrinsic value, the currencies that don’t survive will
most likely trade to zero.”
Today’s digital coins lack long-term staying power because
of slow transaction times, security challenges and high
maintenance costs, according to Strongin. He said the
introduction of regulated Bitcoin futures hasn’t addressed those
concerns and he dismissed the idea of a first-mover advantage —
noting that few of Internet bubble’s high fliers survived after
the late 1990s.
“Are any of today’s cryptocurrencies going to be an Amazon
or a Google, or will they end up like many of the now-defunct
search engines? Just because we are in a speculative bubble does
not mean current prices can’t increase for a handful of
survivors,” Strongin said. “At the same time, it probably does
mean that most, if not all, will never see their recent peaks
again.”
Strongin was more upbeat about the blockchain technology
that underlies digital currencies, saying it could help improve
financial ledgers. But even there he sounded a note of caution,
arguing that current technology doesn’t yet offer the speed
required for market transactions.
For more on cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin Draws Congress’ Ire as Regulators Bemoan Oversight Gaps
Wave of Crypto Scams, Bitcoin Crash Said to Spook Card Firms (1)
Bitcoin Snaps Slide as Crypto Markets Dodge Push for Regulation
Bitcoin Miners Face Shakeout as Only Strongest Survive at $6,000

And they are stolen very often from the “depositor vaults” and exchanges…

As I write these lines at 08:04 LIS/LON time the Bitcoin is trading at 6192 1992 USD down 908 USD on the day…

I rest my case.

Francisco (Abouaf) de Curiel Marques Pereira

—

(BBG) Bitcoin miners who’ve decided to stay
in the game amid plunging prices may soon find that the well has
run dry.
A 70 percent price drop since the heady days of mid-
December has cut profitability to the bone. With the
cryptocurrency hitting $6,000 on Tuesday, only the biggest and
most efficient can stay above water, but even these are
balancing on a knife edge, according to a Gadfly analysis.
Unless you’re a mining outfit running the fastest rigs
bought at wholesale prices, chances are you’re losing money. The
arms race among participants has brought 40 percent more mining
power online since Bitcoin prices went above $19,000 on Dec. 18.
That’s resulted in the rebalancing system built into the digital
currency making it 51 percent more difficult to complete a
block, according to data from Bitcoin.info.
Miners forced to work ever harder for each Bitcoin have
shrugged off this escalating requirement for computational power
— up 18-fold in two years — because a 21-fold price increase
over the same period made the cost worth the investment.
Had Bitcoin stayed at its 50-day moving average of $13,200,
then the average miner could expect to print $80 per week in
profit at current levels of computation (hash rate) and
difficulty. This is based on the very generous assumption that a
miner is running Bitmain Technologies Ltd.’s Antminer S9 at 13.5
TH/s (retail price $2,320), one of the most advanced systems
available, and the set-up is in China at wholesale prices. Older
equipment will have lower returns, and a lot of those mines are
still online.
If the price doesn’t rise, then the average miner is set to
lose $3 per week at current levels. Mining syndicates such as
Antpool — which are probably buying their mines at less than
the retail price — may still be making money, but will be
getting returns 90 percent lower than they would at that 50-day
moving average.
The only way for miners to return to sustained profits is
if Bitcoin prices rise, or some miners turn off the lights,
lowering competition. History shows that while the latter is
possible, it’s unlikely. In fact, those who have plunked down
millions of dollars to build their Bitcoin mining operations
seem to be playing chicken in the hope that competitors will
flinch.
If that happens, they reason, then the bravest miners will
be left alone to enjoy the spoils. If it doesn’t, then expect a
lot to drive off the cliff together.

…All crypto currencies are worthless and can eventually go to zero, or a price near zero.

If a lot of people are suspicious of Fiat Money ( the power to do in Latin )which what all the Countries have, what can we say about these non regulated “inventions”…?

I entirely agree with Professor Nouriel Roubini…

The crypto currencies are the bigest fraud in history.

For the record i always said so.

Please revisit my Personal Opinions on the Bitcoin.

“That’s All Folks!”

Francisco (Abouaf) de Curiel Marques Pereira

—

(Bloomberg) — After a 45 percent selloff over the past
week, Bitcoin is poised to fall through a key technical level
that hasn’t been breached in more than two years. The
cryptocurrency dipped below its 200-day moving average in early
Asian trading hours on Tuesday and was hovering around that
level as of 12:34 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to data compiled
by Bloomberg. The last time Bitcoin breached its 200-day moving
average, in August 2015, the cryptocurrency sank as much as 24
percent over the following two weeks.

(Bloomberg) — For Bitcoin investors, these are the times
that try one’s soul.
After surging to almost $20,000 in December following the
introduction of regulated futures contracts in the U.S., the
world’s largest cryptocurrency has lost more than half its
value, plummeting to as low as $7,614 on Friday.
Particularly hard hit are those who got swept up in the
mania just before what skeptics ranging from Jamie Dimon to
Nouriel Roubini have labeled as one of the biggest asset bubbles
in history began showing signs of deflating. Selling by “weak
hands,” as latecomers are sometimes called in the crypto world,
contrasts with the view of early advocates pledging to HODL —
one frenzied trader’s entreaty to hold onto the tokens during an
earlier rout that has become the mantra of Bitcoin purists.
Bitcoin’s rise in mainstream consciousness was brought on
in part by retail investors’ fear of missing out after viewing
the approval of futures as an endorsement of the establishment.
As more novice investors jumped in, Bitcoin shot above $10,000,
then $15,000, then as high as $20,000 on some exchanges, in a
span of only a few weeks.
Some of Bitcoin’s biggest backers even warned the euphoria
had gotten out of hand. Billionaire Mike Novogratz, who shelved
his plans to open a $500 million cryptocurrency hedge fund and
instead wants to build a crypto merchant bank, warned that
Bitcoin would fall to as low as $8,000. Thomas Lee of Fundstrat
said the cryptocurrency would slide to as low as $9,000 before
shooting back up.
Recent hacks and tightening regulation “has weighed on
confidence,” Lee said in a telephone interview Friday.
“Investors are staying on the sidelines until there’s some
visibility, but nothing fundamental has changed. It’s healthy;
you need drawbacks sometimes as nothing goes up in a straight
line.”
Those highs helped increase the scrutiny regulators as the
total market capitalization climbed to more than $800 billion at
one point in January. A steady steam of headlines since about
officials cracking down on the market sparked jitters and caused
those same retail traders who got in at the highs, to panic
sell, hoping to avoid even greater losses.
But the hordes of people wanting to trade crypto, which
repeatedly crashed San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase Inc.
when the market was rallying, are still there. More than one
million people have signed up for “early access” to the
brokerage app Robinhood Financial’s cryptocurrency section since
it said it would offer no-cost trading in digital coins last
week.
Charles Hayter of research website CryptoCompare sees good
news on the horizon, as Bitcoin developers are making
breakthroughs in technology that will help the network process
transactions faster. Also, Hayter said an emerging regulatory
framework and investor protections will be positive for
cryptocurrencies in the long term.
Meanwhile, many investors who got it earlier aren’t
budging. Bitcoin was worth about $1,000 at the beginning of last
year and about $450 at the start of 2016, so those who bought
then are shrugging off these losses — they’re still up more
than 600 percent.
“It’s just early year market blues,” said David Mondrus, a
long-time crypto enthusiast and chief executive of Trive, a
blockchain-based research platform. “In 12 months we won’t even
remember it.”
For more Bitcoin coverage:
Bitcoin Whipsaws Investors as Bubble Shows Signs of Bursting
Roubini Says Bitcoin Is the ‘Biggest Bubble in Human History’
Long Blockchain Backs Off Bitcoin Mining as Cryptocurrency Falls
Big Investors Circle Telegram Offering as Crypto Insiders Pass
To the World, They’re Crypto Bros. To Each Other, a Brotherhood